Quotation Marks

You're probably familiar with these, and you may have used them occasionally. The following guidelines and activities will help you use them more effectively.

1. Use quotation marks to enclose a direct quotation. This means that whenever you want to include someone's exact words in a passage of your own writing, you should surround those words with quotation marks.

As I walked away from the car, the attendant asked, "Did you leave your key in the ignition?" It was a good thing he asked.

Quotation marks help your reader distinguish your words from those you are quoting. They also tell the reader that these are the source's exact words, that you have not rephrased or altered them in any way. If you change them even slightly, do not mislead the reader into thinking that they are exact. Notice the difference in the following statements.

Indirect quotation: President Kennedy said that we should ask what we can do for our country rather than what our country can do for us.

Direct quotation: President Kennedy said, "And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

Both examples are satisfactory. The first doesn't give Kennedy's exact words, but it doesn't claim to; the second does give Kennedy's exact words and signals that fact by putting them in quotation marks. The following example misuses quotation marks.

Misquotation: President Kennedy said that "we should ask not what our country can do for us but what we can do for our country."

2. Use quotation marks to enclose the titles of stories, poems, and articles when they appear in the body of your paper. Do not use them to enclose your own title at the beginning of your essay. The titles of books, magazines, plays, and motion pictures should be underlined or italicized.

Example: I haven't yet finished Dubliners, but so far my favorite story is "A Little Cloud."

3. Use quotation marks to enclose words used in an unusual or unexpected way, especially when the words come from another language context or when they are spoken of as words.

Examples:

My cousin liked a "spot o' tea" as much as I liked a "slug a' whisky."

The word "mob" has an interesting history.

A Final Word on Quotation Marks

At the end of a quotation, periods and commas always go inside quotation marks. All other marks go inside only if they are part of the quoted material.

Even after you've learned the above rules for using quotation marks, you may encounter tricky situations, especially when other punctuation marks are used with them. Most problems, however, can be avoided by learning the following rule:

At the end of a quotation, periods and commas always go inside quotation marks. All other marks go inside only if they are part of the quoted material.

Examples:

We read a story called "The Egg."

Have you ever read "The Egg"?

Just then Dr. Klein asked, "Who wrote 'The Egg'?"

"Sherwood Anderson wrote 'The Egg,"' I replied.

"Why?" Dr. Klein asked.

Activities

4.23 Some of the following sentences are direct quotations, some are indirect. If the sentence contains a direct quotation, punctuate it correctly. If it contains an indirect quotation, reword the sentence to make the quotation direct, adding the necessary punctuation.

a. Tim's father said that the new accounting system was a pain in the neck.

b. Now you've really messed things up Arthur shouted.

c. Who said there's a sucker born every minute?

d. The policeman said that our dog had to be on a leash.

e. How was the Chem test Miranda inquired.

f. Grandma asked us to play You Can't Get to Heaven in a Rocking Chair.

set off words used as words, words used ironically or as slang, words that are particularly significant, and words that may be unfamiliar to the reader. Note: Italics may also be used to set off words in these cases.

Example: The words "effect" and "affect" are often confused.

Many people often incorrectly use single quotation marks in the last example. In Canadian and American style, use single quotation marks to

In the case of further quotations within quotations, alternate with double and single quotation marks.

British practice is usually the reverse: single quotation marks are used first and double quotations marks are used second. With the exception of a few publishers, this style is no longer popular in Canada.

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Placement of Punctuation and Quotation Marks

The Americans and the British exhibit distinct styles for using quotation marks. In the American style, double quotation marks enclose quotations, and single quotation marks enclose quotations within quotations. The British practice is to use single quotation marks to enclose quotations, and double quotation marks to enclose a quotation within another quotation.

In the American style, periods and commas are always placed inside the quotation marks, for typographical reasons. In the British style, periods and commas are placed inside the quotation marks only when they are part of the quoted material, which is the more logical placement.

The Canadian style for quotation marks usually follows the American style for appearance and placement of periods and commas. Some Canadian publishers, however, use the British style. Others employ a combination of the two styles.

At NIVA, we recommend always using the American style of double quotation marks followed by single quotation marks. In a literary work, we recommend the American style of always placing periods and commas inside the quotation marks. In a technical or legal work, where accuracy is essential, we recommend the British practice of placing periods and commas within quotation marks only when they are part of the quoted material.

Here are a few more rules for punctuating quoted material. Unless otherwise noted, the examples show our recommended literary style, which is the same as the American style.

A direct quotation is set off from the rest of the sentence by commas. Do not use a period to end a sentence quoted within another sentence.

Bill said, "I just got back from my trip, and I had a good time."

"I just got back from my trip, and I had a good time," said Bill.

"I just got back from my trip," said Bill, "and I had a good time."

The following example contrasts the American style, the British style, and our recommended literary and technical styles using a partial quote from the above example. Note that in the British and technical style, it is clear that we did not quote the entire sentence.

American: Bill said, "I just got back."

British: Bill said, 'I just got back'.

NIVA Literary: Bill said, "I just got back."

NIVA Technical: Bill said, "I just got back".

You will often find that in technical writing the American style can cause confusion.

American: Give the file the extension ".TXT."

British: Give the file the extension '.TXT'.

NIVA Literary: Give the file the extension ".TXT."

NIVA Technical: Give the file the extension ".TXT".

The comma is used and the quote is capitalized even when the quotation marks are absent.

Alice thought, Will I see him again?

A comma is also used after a dash to set off a quotation from the rest of the sentence.

"I don't think that she—," he began to say.

If the quotation is used as a part of speech (subject, predicate nominative, restrictive appositive, etc.) it is not set off by commas.

"In a minute" was his standard reply.

Ellen was reminded of the saying "To each his own."

If single quotation marks are used to signify a special term, the period is placed outside the quotation marks.

Doug was not familiar with the word 'apposition'.

When a statement ends in a quotation that is an exclamation or question, a question mark or exclamation mark is placed inside the quotation marks, and a period is not used. When a question or exclamation includes a quoted question or exclamation, the punctuation of the quotation is dropped, and the appropriate punctuation for the sentence appears outside of the quotation marks.

He asked, "Will you be leaving soon?"

He shouted, "Never!"

Did he say "I am late"?

I can't believe he whispered "I am afraid"!

Did he ask "Will you be leaving soon"?

Did he shout "Never"?

I can't believe he asked "Will you be leaving soon"!

A colon or semicolon is always placed outside quotation marks. When the enclosed material ends in a colon, the colon is omitted.

Three themes can be found in "Morgan's Dilemma": hope, courage, and heroism.